In the Cobblestone Cup’s inaugural evening of hockey, club teams from Clemson, Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina put on a hard-hitting show in front of sparse crowds in the Savannah Civic Center.

Clemson pulled away from Auburn for a 4-1 victory in both programs’ first appearance on ice in Savannah, and South Carolina’s hockey team treated Georgia just as roughly as South Carolina’s football team treated the Bulldogs a week ago in Columbia. The Gamecocks scored a goal in each period and sophomore goalie Dale Turner stonewalled the Ice Dawgs for 60 minutes in a 3-0 victory marred by a third-period injury to Georgia’s Jared Reeves.

The Gamecocks got a first-period goal from Andrew Swint, a second-period score from Michael Kochenash and a topper in the third period from Michael Jonas. Georgia rarely threatened the South Carolina goal, but Turner was up for each of the few challenges the Ice Dawgs mounted.

While the games were played with gusto and the production value was high, the crowd that was expected never materialized. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the Savannah Tire Classic that traditionally is played in the Civic Center in January, Cobblestone Cup organizers tried to create a bookend hockey event appealing to Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference fans.

But on a night when the high school football schedule featured Savannah Christian playing arch rival Calvary and a Benedictine home game, the first two games of the Cobblestone Cup were witnessed by less than 500 fans rather than the thousands of fans that dependably pack the Civic Center for the Savannah Tire Classic.

“(The crowd) was less than what we expected, but we think it’s a positive start, and we heard a lot of talk about people coming (tonight),” said Savannah Sports Council executive director Ben Wilder. “The teams are happy and keep talking about how happy they are to be here, and that’s important to us. Friday night is always a tough one, but on Saturday night people usually plan around it.”

Clemson and South Carolina play at 5 tonight, followed by Georgia and Auburn at 7:30.

The Cobblestone Cup’s first goal was scored by Clemson junior James Wilson only 58 seconds into the tournament’s first game. Wilson was the first of four Clemson players to score as the Tigers from South Carolina overwhelmed an Auburn program that is only in its third year. “We’re really happy to be (in Savannah), and you could feel how excited the team was about playing this game all day,” said 26-year-old Clemson coach Jim Livsey, who played hockey for Clemson as an undergraduate before migrating to a coaching role while in graduate school. “It definitely wasn’t just a regular weekend game for us, and we were excited to be a part of something like (the Cobblestone Cup). The biggest turning point in our game was the first goal of the second period, because we felt like we outplayed (Auburn) in the first period but we needed to put pucks in the net.”

Tied 1-1 but owning big statistical advantages in shots and shots on goal, Clemson scored two goals in less than 90 seconds in the second period to take control of the game. Forward Christopher Latino emerged from a pileup in front of the Auburn net to sneak a goal past Auburn goalie Miles Bishop for a 2-1 lead with 14:37 left in the period, and a little over a minute later Alex Zeiss slapped a shot through Bishop’s legs to break Auburn’s spirit.

“We had a little series of unfortunate events where we got a penalty and then gave up two quick goals,” said Auburn coach Mike Robinson, whose team practices and plays its games about 30 miles away from campus in Columbus, Ga. “We were hoping to get good crowds, but hockey in the south can be hard to predict. We’re getting more exposure and you get to play in front of folks who haven’t seen us play like Auburn alums in Savannah who may like to see their Auburn team.”